This B12 bus is stopped in Brownsville, Brooklyn. on Friday after a beggar allegedly opened fire on board, wounding a passenger. Photo: Benny J. Stumbo

A panhandler told a Brooklyn bus rider, “You look like you have money, I’m having a bad day” — and opened fire, striking the man with one round and nearly shooting a pregnant women in the neck, witnesses and cops said.

He made the “money” comment to Moloney, but the man refused to give him anything.

McTerrel then begged a mom and her baby for change.

Moloney stepped in and said, “You’re a grown man. You need to go get a job. Stop asking people for money,” according to rider Carlina Nichols, a pregnant 27-year-old department-store worker headed to her doctor.

McTerrel allegedly told the bus driver he was going to kill Moloney, then threatened Moloney and made racist comments.

Cops and witnesses say McTerrel pulled a 9mm gun and fired up to four shots, with one hitting Moloney in his hand as he grabbed for the weapon and another nearly striking Nichols.
“The bullet went just past my face,” she told The Post. “I’m just checking myself to see if I’m shot. I was in shock.”

The bus driver stayed calm — even as two bullets went through the wall next to him — and drove two blocks to the 73rd Precinct station on East New York Avenue.

When he reached the police station, he opened the doors. McTerrel and Moloney tumbled out, wrestling on the street.

“He basically tussled him down so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else on the bus,” Nichols said. “He’s really a hero.”

An off-duty officer took McTerrel into custody and charged him with attempted murder, assault, weapon possession and reckless endangerment.

Moloney was treated at Brookdale Hospital.

His stepson Jamel Graham, 16, said he works as a handyman and a mover, and is always protecting others. “He’s a great guy. He’s always looking out for people,” said Graham. “He stopped the guy, and he got shot.”

The shooting happened in the neighborhood where Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton a day earlier announced that the city would drop its appeal of a judge’s ruling that stop-and-frisk is unconstitutional.

As of Tuesday, there has been a 33 percent spike in murders across the city this year. Stats also show gun recoveries are way down.

“Cops aren’t stopping people and taking guns off the streets, which emboldens the criminals,” a law-enforcement source told The Post at the time.